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Ernest Rutherford: (August 30, 1871 - October 19, 1937)

Ernest Rutherford was a renowned British physicist who made seminal contributions to nuclear physics and chemistry. He proved that radioactivity results in the transmutation of elements and was the first to apply the terms "half-life," "alpha particles," "beta particles," and "gamma rays" in describing ionizing radiations. His gold foil experiments from 1908 to 1913 led him to postulate the Rutherford model of the atom, showing that the Plum Pudding model was incorrect. Rutherford mentored many students who became highly influential scientists, and the radioactive element rutherfordium is named in his honor.

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51 views4 pages

Ernest Rutherford: (August 30, 1871 - October 19, 1937)

Ernest Rutherford was a renowned British physicist who made seminal contributions to nuclear physics and chemistry. He proved that radioactivity results in the transmutation of elements and was the first to apply the terms "half-life," "alpha particles," "beta particles," and "gamma rays" in describing ionizing radiations. His gold foil experiments from 1908 to 1913 led him to postulate the Rutherford model of the atom, showing that the Plum Pudding model was incorrect. Rutherford mentored many students who became highly influential scientists, and the radioactive element rutherfordium is named in his honor.

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johny Brave
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ERNEST RUTHERFORD

(August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937)

Nurtured by the distinguished Professors Alexander William Bickerton and Joseph John
Thomson, Ernest Rutherford became a superb scientist. Like Enrico Fermi, he excelled in both
theory and practicals. His fame stems from ingenious exploits in Nuclear Chemistry and Atomic
Physics. Often referred to as the second greatest scientific experimenter (next to Michael
Faraday), he was the first person who proved conclusively that radioactivity culminate in the
transmutation of elements. He was also the first to apply the term “half life” while chronicling
radioactive decays; as well as the first to use the names “alpha particles”, “beta particles” and
“gamma rays” in describing those ionizing radiations. His gold foil experiments, which he ran
from 1908 to 1913, enabled him to postulate what has become known in Atomic Physics as
the Rutherford Model. This is particularly important because its analyses indicated that the
previously acclaimed Plum Pudding Model which his erstwhile professor, Joseph John Thomson,
postulated in 1904 was wrong. (By the way, it is important to note that the Rutherford’s Gold
Foil Experiment is sometimes referred to as Geiger-Marsden Experiment. This is because Hans
Geiger and Ernest Marsden conducted the experiments, while Rutherford directed and supervised
them. He also supervised James Chadwick when Chadwick discovered neutrons). Apart from the
aforementioned, several students he tutored and mentored later ranked amongst 20th century’s
greatest scientists. Notable among these are: Niels Bohr, Otto Hahn, John Cockcroft and Ernest
Walton. In his honor, the IUPAC named the synthetic radioactive element with atomic number of
104, rutherfordium, in 1997.

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17 Comments

1. Leanna Calvinsays:
December 29, 2017 at 8:32 am

Rutherford was awesome.

 Reply

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July 30, 2018 at 10:55 pm

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November 15, 2018 at 7:52 pm

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December 1, 2018 at 1:16 am

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9. Violette O'Rourkesays:
July 7, 2019 at 12:42 am
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10. Henry Jonessays:


October 9, 2019 at 5:45 pm

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11. Fapvidsays:
December 6, 2019 at 2:11 pm

Worked with Rutherford and elevated Crooke’s suggestion of isotopes into a theory. In
1913, Hevesy and Paneth provided evidence that isotopes chemically behave the
same.

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